Richmond Council Endorses Statue Of Arthur Ashe

Published: July 19, 1995

RICHMOND, July 18—
After a month of debate and an emotional hearing, the City Council voted early today to erect a statue of Arthur Ashe among the memorials to Confederate heroes on Monument Avenue, the city's grandest boulevard.

The unanimous decision came at 1 A.M., after the seven-hour televised hearing. Some speakers said the statue of Mr. Ashe, the black tennis pioneer who died in 1993, belonged on Monument Avenue beside the heroes of Virginia. Others said it was insulting to Mr. Ashe's memory to put a statue of him on the same street as Confederate memorials.

A third group, some of whom wore Rebel insignia, wanted to preserve the historic integrity of Monument Avenue by putting Mr. Ashe's statue in a park where he had once watched white players from behind a fence.

The outcome, in doubt until the last moment, was seen as a sign of racial healing in the former capital of the Confederacy.

Several council members said their minds were changed by the emotional testimony of about 100 speakers at the hearing.

Thirteen relatives of Mr. Ashe sat in the packed Council chamber and several spoke in favor of putting the statue on Monument Avenue.

A majority of the Council members in the city are black, as are 55 percent of the city's residents. The City Clerk, Edna Keys-Chavis, said more than 50 residents opposing the decision had called today and several had used racial slurs. "They just wanted to vent," she said.